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MANILA – “I was not saying Mayor Mabilog was making shabu. I said he was protector number one.”
Standing by his accusation against Iloilo City’s Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog, President Rodrigo Duterte also hinted he had wiretapped suspected narco-politicians.
Speaking to journalists in Marawi City on Thursday, Duterte said Mabilog left the country because the mayor was “afraid to suffer the same fate (as) Parojinog’s.”
Mayor Reynaldo Parojinog Sr. of Ozamiz City was killed in a shootout with policemen who raided his house on July 30, 2017.
“But Parojinog (was) different…He was a protector but maybe also part of a gambling syndicate. I am not sure on that story but I’m sure (that) whenever he was talking to ano, I was listening to him,” said the President in a rambling speech.
He then added: “Don’t ask me how I…what kind of listening I do… It was a whisper from God and I was listening to him. So they were all tapped.”
Wiretapping is strictly regulated by Republic Act 4200 or the Anti-Wiretapping Law. A court order is required before authorities can do so.
Mabilog could not be reached for comment as of this writing. Currently on sick leave in an undisclosed location abroad, he had stopped using his mobile phone a few months ago as he became more conscious of his security.
According to his spokesperson Atty. Mark Piad, Mabilog’s sick leave would end on Sept. 30.
In August last year, Duterte tagged Mabilog and three other mayors in Iloilo province as drug protectors. On Thursday, he again reiterated his allegation even if over a year after he named and shamed the Iloilo City mayor, no charges have been filed against the official.
“Remember my statement very, very first early days when I was President? I called the attention of the Iloilo people. Your city or your province is the most shabulized, if there is such a word, most shabulized. Now, you want me to name them again? It’s Mayor Mabilog, and he is out of the country because he’s afraid to suffer the same fate (as) Parojinog’s,” said the President.
Mabilog had repeatedly rejected the charge he was coddling drug traffickers.
“With God as my witness, I have never protected anyone, especially in illegal drugs. Never. I will never do that,” he said on Aug. 30, a day after Duterte publicly rebuked him to stop his drug connections and warning him of fatal consequences.
Asked about the President’s wiretapping disclosure, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said the President, a lawyer, was surely “operating within the bounds of legality.”
Mabilog left the country for Japan on Aug. 31 to attend an international conference on disaster management in Yokohama. From there, he flew to Malaysia to attend a summit on sustainable urban development from Sept. 7 to 9.
He did not return to the Philippines but filed for sick leave on Sept. 11.
Mabilog’s wife, Canadian citizen Maria Victoria, and their two children left the country on Aug. 31, too. She confirmed to Panay News via internet that she was worried of her family’s security but declined to give their exact location.
Duterte described Mabilog as a “big fish”, too, in his antidrug campaign.
“Sabi nila, where are the big fishes? Binigyan ko na kayo ng mga mayors na big fishes. Itong si Mabilog hindi na nga umuwi eh,” the President said during the oath-taking of new officers of the Philippine National Police Academy Alumni Association in Malacañang on Wednesday./PN
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